Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a war veteran struggling to find a job and arguing with his medical insurance over the experimental surgery that his wife needs. So he takes his last option, he asks his adoptive brother Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal) for help. The problem is that Danny needs a wheelman for a heist and that heist is happening in five minutes. Of course it goes wrong and in a chaotic escape Danny and Will steal an ambulance and take paramedic Cam (Eiza Gonzalez) hostage along with the rookie cop they shot in their getaway. 

The result is an expansive police chase across Los Angeles where the Sharp brothers are chased by seemingly every cop in the city led by ace cop Captain Monroe (Garret Dillahunt) and FBI Agent Anson Clark (Keir O’Donnell). And this being a Michael Bay film the level of destruction is off the charts. 

Whilst this film is based on a 2005 Danish film Ambulancen (currently available on UK Netflix) this version essentially takes the famous heist scene from Heat and the constantly moving hostage bus chase from Speed and gives them the Michael “Bayhem” Bay treatment. 

My personal mileage with Michael Bay recently has been one of extreme boredom with a large dose of eye rolling. Whilst the man is undeniably visually inventive putting action sequences together he tends to over direct everything, make them incredibly difficult to watch via choppy editing and make bloated overlong films. Take any of the last four Transformers movies as recent examples. But Ambulance is easily the most fun any of his films have been since the likes of his first two films; 1995’s Bad Boys and 1996’s The Rock. Interestingly both are name checked as part of throw away jokes early on in the movie. 

So what makes this so much fun? I think in the main it is because of its three lead performances and the charisma and commitment each actor brings. Jake Gyllenhaal is the scheming and slightly unhinged criminal who is always trying to work out the next move. His performance is over the top and lots of crazy fun. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays the down on his luck war veteran who is trying to do the right thing but just keeps making bad decisions. Whilst Eiza Gonzalez is a hot shot paramedic who holds people at arms length emotionally whilst saving those around her. All of those characters are action movie stereotypes, but every actor tries their hardest to make them interesting. 

The real champion of the film though is the camera work which only occasionally veers into frustrating Bay schtick. There is an opening scene between our two leads where the camera constantly swirls around them as they have a heated conversation. Drone shots that spin and swoop across the city and incredibly intricate action sequences where they somehow seem to magically pass through moving vehicles at just the perfect time to capture an epic shot. It’s incredibly impressive. 

If you are looking for realism of course you have come to the wrong place. Thousands of bullets will be expelled, many explosions will wreak havoc on the city and numerous cars will crash whilst very little personal injury occurs. People who have for all intents and purposes basically been dead will make instant recoveries for plot purposes before being rather poorly again. There is a crazy cartel sub plot. Some incredibly bizarre character moments such as Captain Monroe being introduced as a man in a very small car with a very big dog and FBI Agent Clark being introduced by a couples counselling session he is attending. And then the most audacious scene of all that involves some mobile surgery with the best integrated video call known to man. 

As a counter point there are some cheesy but effective scenes of the Sharp brothers as boys that reminded me of Man Of Steel’s flashback scenes and the highlight of the film where the brothers enjoy an 80’s rock song on their headphones. 

Michael Bay’s best film since his first Transformers movie all the way back in 2007.